Corrigenda and Disputed Points

Last updated 27 July 2012

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p. 43: [Roussel’s] Bacchus et Ariane with Yvonne Gouverné’s singers

[Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris, 26 November 1936]

It is true that the published orchestral scores of suites 1 and 2 (1932) lack reference to singers, and that there is no ongoing tradition of a chorus in the performing force. But the published piano score of the full ballet prepared by Roussel (Durand, 1932 with a plate number earlier than those of the full scores) mentions a répétiteur du chant et de la danse (M. Becker) for the first performance of the ballet at the Opéra on 22 May 1931.

For the concert performance on 26 November 1936, there are the following mentions of the participation of Yvonne Gouverné’s 40-voice chorus in a complete concert performance (intégrale) of Bacchus et Ariane:

announcement of the concert in the Guide du Concert for that week (p. 207);

postcard from Roussel to Gouverné (Nice, 30 November 1936: “I heard that your undertakings were successful”), given by G. Honegger (p. 97);

notice in the Revue musicale shortly aterward: “Even if the performance was not ‘intégrale,’ like the program promised, it was nevertheless enhanced by Yvonne Gouverné’s lovely chorus. The resulting ensemble was perfect” (1937, p. 206).

I have not yet been able to examine any preserved manuscript materials for the original Bacchus et Ariane, that is, before the suites were extracted by Roussel, Munch, and Monteux. In general my reasoning was that in a work so obviously drawing on the precedent of Daphnis et Chloé, the use of a chorus in Bacchus et Ariane would not be especially surprising.

p. 151: Kurt Sanderling [1912-2011]. Replace sentence with:

Kurt Sanderling, Mravinsky’s longtime asssociate conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic, later remarked that hearing the BSO in Russia figured in his decision to leave Russia and pursue an international career.

The error is the result of erroneous conflation of two quite different sentences as drafted. It is true that the younger members of the Leningrad Philharmonic were hearing a major foreign orchestra for the first time, and that for several it was a life-changing experience. Sanderling himself reckoned it career-changing.

I treat the same events in “The Cold War,” The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 2012), 118-21.

p. 172: concert [of 5 May 1960] in the Hibya Hibiya Hall

p. 175: Yamada Kosaku Kosaku Yamada / Mount Fujiyama

Contemporaneous accounts should have been edited to modern correct Western forms.

p. 189: [Leinsdorf’s] tenure was five seven seasons.

Leinsdorf was titular conductor of the BSO from 1962-63 through 1968-69. [This is a mis-editing of a draft remark to the effect that after five seasons, orchestra and conductor were unhappy with each other.]

p. 229: … in April 1971, the featured work [on the European tour with Steinberg] was Mahler’s Eighth Seventh.